Hi Paul! It was great reading your thoughts and I agree strongly with many of them. I am also in a similar stage trying to join the AI Safety field as a generalist.

If I may add some ideas:

1) I believe we have nothing to demonstrate nor prove. As a psychologist, I really trust the power of just being yourself showing what you are capable, but without trying to convince about your worth. Instead of: "Look! I am valuable enough to join your organization" I prefer the approach of: "Here is what I am and can do, I would love to contribute with your organization. But if you don´t think alike is fine, I will join one better suited for me".

2) Generalists have a superpower precisely because they are not experts; they can interconnect different domains and come up with ideas and solutions no experts would be able to. It´s like multiplying knowledge and sparking creativity to levels unknown before.

3) As someone aiming to join a Field Builder role, I completely agree with the need of courses targeted to generalists. Indeed, I sent a project draft to @Kairos Team  precisely about this to build a course path for professionals like us. Apart from being a psychologist I have worked many years as a programs manager in different e-learning companies, and this could be a great step to resolve the talent bottlenecks AI Safety still endures.

Good luck with your search for a high-impact job, Paul!

"Give people more useful information while leaving the decision-making power with them"

I love this approach to charities and I wish more of them follow this principle. Something that made me reluctant on supporting some organizations was the paternalization and loss of agency of people they provoked as a consequence of their way of helping. Yours is genuinely refreshing.

Also 100% agree with the democratization of technology and specifically AI implemented with safety measures. Hope your test gives you good guidance!

 

"It's possible that the death of the EA Forum is downstream from other community dynamics (like a massive shift to AI safety from previously highly engaged people)."

I discovered the EA movement and specifically this forum thanks to my growing interest in AI Safety that lead me here, so my case was the other way around. Maybe this compensates the trend you described.

Anyway, your points sound quite reasonable and hope most of them land within the forum managers! I might not know much of the forum history, but most members I have read and talked with seem great. You surely are an open-minded, well intended and welcoming community. That is rare nowadays on the internet and is especially what attracted me to enter this place.

Very insightful Sofia! Thanks for your detailed view, it resonated with my experience as an entrepreneur with different for-profit projects in the past. Many lessons resemble both non-profit and for-profit founders, with slightly interesting differences.

It surprised me that you mentioned getting funding could be easier than landing a job in EA, but makes sense if the vast majority of professionals think about working elsewhere and there is much less competition to capture funding for starting a non-profit.

Thanks again for the analysis, made me reflect for a while.

Thanks for your view Brad! For the scout mindset ossifying, I would say is a consequence of an "exaggeration" of the mindset. Both rational and motivated reasoning are abilities that helps us navigate effectively through the world, neither absent of caveats.

The problem (by my viewpoint) would start when the Scout in their seek for "The Truth" do not allow the change of a reality they once knew (because would imply "Truth" is impossible to achieve completely). Since curiosity is in many instances driven by a motivation to reduce uncertainty, changing realities would only bring again more uncertainty and thus, discomfort to this kind of Scout.

The Soldier also can become rigid in their beliefs, but the reasons why would be different (Julia Galef explained those motives quite well in her book).

Don´t know if Galef would agree with this framework since she only stated this rigidity to the Soldier Mindset, but neither of these psychological functions is better than the other, neither lack the danger of being rigidified by our ego.

I am glad mental health is also being seriously considered within the EA community. It was one of the causes I missed seeing in the forum when I entered, and this post was spot on. 

As a psychologist myself who has been treating several years with clients regarding self-esteem issues, I really hope your charity and this cause as a whole has a deep impact!

Thank you for your advice, Ben! I especially appreciated the document with your reasoning about how you chose between those two job offers. It was also quite a chance since I am currently applying for Kairos Generator residency and a couple of their open job roles.

How is Kairos culture working from the inside? If you want to share your experience so far I would be eager to hear it!

Just checked your webpage and you truly seem committed to helping people land great careers. I will be following your posts, as far as I have read I got a couple of good insights for my own job seeking process. Wish you the best with those hiring rounds! 

Hi Teresa! I´m also a new member in the forum determined to enter the AI Safety field like you. Nice to meet you!

Hi! After 1 month reading as an outsider I´m finally here.

My name is Sergio and I arrived to the EA movement through AI Safety. I´ve been investigating about the field since the Hugging Face incident, and I was determined to make a career transition to contribute to this critical endeavour.

Right not I´m looking for job opportunities in AI Safety as a Field Builder (Programs Manager, Operations Strategy, Talent Management, etc.). These past 9 years I´ve been working in different e-learning companies developing talent trainings, also had a couple of businesses as a private Psychologist and launched my own personal-development programs.

I´m also curious about the EA movement as a whole, and although I don´t fully share all its principles the community seems very open-minded, welcoming and well-intended. That convinced me to register and contribute also in this forum.

Lastly, I´m a sport passionate. Especially for volleyball matches, sack boxing and pole sport.

Nice to meet you all!


P.S. Currently in Spain, aiming to relocate to London soon. =)